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Food, family and memories are as intertwined in the South as if woven on the same thread. At any function we attend, from a party to a wedding to a funeral, we are as likely to talk as much about the food that was there, as we are about why we are gathered. ~Mary Foreman

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Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Preserved Figs

I've talked about it here before, but I grew up in a home where the back property line butted up against a heavily wooded field. We had a short, wood framed fence along the back, easy to climb, and we had such fun playing in those woods, building caves and forts out of twigs and branches and using our imagination to entertain ourselves. Times were much more innocent then.

Along that fence line was a huge fig tree and I can remember Mama bringing in bowls overflowing with figs every summer, that we'd enjoy eating in their pure, fresh, right off the tree state. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2006, and even before I started blogging, I threw myself into gardening to occupy and distract my mind from all of the destruction and changes that had happened to my beautiful Gulf Coast, and my own life. I decided that year to plant a Celeste fig tree in honor of Mama.

I am happy to say that it has flourished and grown tall, producing more figs than ever this year. I still have to beat the birds to them, but every year as they begin to ripen, I pluck a handful early in the morning to eat just as they are. Once they start coming in though, they ripen by the bucketloads and since fresh figs don't keep well, it's time to put up a few.

Celeste Figs

I enjoy fig preserves and jams, but I really love preserved figs the most - whole figs that are preserved in a thick sugar syrup. It's a great way to put up those figs as they start rolling in all at once and truly my favorite way to eat them. Well... next to just eating them fresh off the tree that is!

Preserved figs are perfect for serving with hot, buttered homemade buttermilk biscuits or even simple toast, of course, but they're good just to eat as they are, spooned over ice cream, on top of crostini spread with cream cheese, goat cheese or blue cheese, mashed up to use in baked goods and other recipes, or even tossed on a salad.

Back in the day, it'd be a rare home here in the Deep South that didn't have a few jars of preserved figs in the pantry or the fridge. Here's how to make them.

Check out more of my canning and preserving recipes on Pinterest!

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Pinch stems from figs, if desired. Rinse well and drain; set aside. Bring the water, sugar, salt and lemon to a boil. Boil until sugar is completely dissolved. Add the figs, stir, reduce heat to a medium low simmer, and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until figs begin to turn transparent, gently stirring occasionally. Ladle figs into sterilized jars, packing fairly tight and spoon syrup to fill, leaving 1/4 inch head space; seal. Process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner. Remove and let cool on a heavy bath towel without disturbing.

Cook's Notes: Consult a professional canning resource for details on water bath canning. Choose figs that are ripe, but still firm and slightly green. How many jars you get will be dependent on the size of the type and size figs that you use. I grow Celeste figs. If you don't want to process this with a water bath, you may halve the recipe and refrigerate or freeze after cooking. They will usually keep for a month to 6 weeks in the refrigerator without canning, or they may also be frozen for up to 6 months.

Material Disclosure: Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

24 comments:

Am I the first one to comment on this post!! Yay!! Mary, your childhood memories are making me nostalgic...you are absolutely right, so innocent those days were!! About seven years back, we lived in a beautiful hill station....which is nicknamed Scotland of India...and yes figs were abundant there....I used to make wine and preserve figs, though I used to cut each one into fours...and they were so good topped on ice creams and puddings!! Now I live in a city...how I wish I could get some figs and do your way!!

Did you purposely start gardening to heal after Katrina or was it something that your subconscious did to heal you? Such an awful, awful time but it is wonderful to see new growth in the midst of devastation.

I LOVE figs, especially when they are covering some buttered biscuits! I think figs remind me of my grandmother and growing up here in S Louisiana. Now I finally have my own fig trees, waiting for them to start making fruit!!

I am a newbie to your site. (Found it through Just A Pinch when I was searching for Fig Preserve recipes.) My Mother always made this as I was growing up but I didn't particularly care for hers then. Seems she always overcooked them just a tad and they were nearly impossible to spoon out of the jar. I have a batch on the stove top as I write and can't wait to give them a taste.

The amount of syrup leftover from canning projects will vary from project to project depending on the size of the fruit that was used. Better to have more syrup, than not enough when you're in the middle of canning!

As far as whether you could have reused it again is one I'm not sure of since it's no longer just simple syrup, but it's had raw fruit added to it and cooked down in it. I would consult a professional canning resource. Logically, it seems to me, and this is just an opinion, that you could possibly continue with cooking more figs in it, but I just don't know enough about canning to know if that would be safe to do or if the results would be the same given you've already cooked one batch of fruit in it.

Sorry I can't help more, but I always just discard any syrup that is left, although you could preserve the syrup by freezing it in ice trays and then bag it to use to add flavor sweetness to other things on down the line, such as cakes or cobblers. Basically you'll have a fig infused simple syrup. Hope that helps!

Just followed your recipe, and it was a total hit!!! Been canning figs since I was a child with my Granny, and your recipe is the least complex by far...and delicious to!!! Thank you, and look forward to trying more!!!

Sweetie, as pleased as I am that you love figs and have posted this recipe, I just have to tell you something. What you have are brown turkey figs, not Celeste. Celeste figs are the ones that are green-skinned and bright watermelon-red inside when ripe. They are usually start to ripen several weeks after the brown turkeys do.

We have grown both kinds for many years, and they are both just wonderful. But for productivity and sweetness it is hard to beat these classic Southern brown turkey figs.

Sorry Lynda (I won't call you sweetie since I don't know you) but these are definitely figs from a Celeste fig tree, not a brown turkey, which are actually larger and shaped slightly different. While I understand your experience has been otherwise, if you do a simple Google image search, I'm sure you'll find different.

Greetings, Mary. Ben here. I have had a fig tree for 9 years, and this is the first year it has produced fruit...and it is making up for lost time! So many figs I can't eat them all. Here's my question: do you know how these whole preserved figs would fare if they were frozen first? I have been freezing them straight off the tree, and making preserves (chopping the figs into quarters) when I've gotten enough. And those preserves have been dynamite! They don't seem to suffer at all from the freezing first; they keep their texture very well. I just wonder if I'd have the same success if I tried preserving them whole. I just don't get quite enough ripe ones at one time to meet this recipe, and they just don't last long once they're picked, so I almost have to freeze them until I have enough.

Hi Ben! I am so jealous of your figs. Two years ago we moved and I had to leave behind my tree. It had grown to probably about 10 feet by then and was giving me so many figs I actually left many for the birds but still had plenty for myself. I replanted a new one here at the new house - I got exactly 2 on it the first time it put out fruit and it's got about a dozen green figs on it right now but they don't seem to be progressing much. Hopefully it will do better next year!

I've not tried to make preserved figs from those have been frozen, but I'd say give it a try. This batch only makes 4 to 5 pints so you could process half and just refrigerate the others to test them. I'm not sure about the texture once frozen if kept and preserved whole. Let me know if you give it a try though!

I just couldn't bring myself to risk ruining those frozen figs, so I chopped them and made more preserves of them. But the tree gave me so many fresh new figs this week, I was able to make this recipe last night! Haven't tasted them yet, but they look great. Questions: do you really usually get 4-5 pints out of this recipe? I used a generous 6 cups of figs (close to 7) and that was just enough to make two pints. Also, do you can the figs with the lemon slices? I wasn't sure, so I strained them out before canning. Can't wait to try them!

Let me know what you think Ben! I wish I had some right now to spread on a hot biscuit. I haven't made these in awhile since we moved and I lost my tree, but I usually got 4 pints from the batch. It does depend on the size of the figs too.

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